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Ask Slashdot: How Should Sony Compensate PSN Users?
ogar572 writes "So Sony is going to give 20 million+ PlayStation Network users (numbers vary based on what article you read) two free games and free credit protection (US only) for what happened a few weeks ago. I for one do miss playing Black Ops online, but I have made it through this outage by doing other, more productive things. What I am most frustrated about is the lack of consistent details and information via email about what is going on. Now Sony says that they are going to compensate us with two free downloadable games (more than likely I have never heard of these games before). I would have been satisfied with the free credit protection. Now that they want to offer me 2 games, why can't I pick any 2 games that I want? I mean, my personal info is now probably being sold on the black market because of Sony. What do you think Sony should do, if anything, to compensate for what has happened?"
All I want is for Sony to get things back online and learn some lessons from this. I don't want gifts or subscriptions or any other stuff. Just learn the importance of pro-active security measures. Always be validating the integrity of your systems. Have people on the payroll who can deal with these things instead of having to hire out for them after the fact. Especially when you're directly involved in litigation and supposedly under threats of "hacker" groups. And learn how to communicate with your customers. Take a lesson from the LastPass guys, for example.
I don't want trinkets. Just get your shit together.
What about me? So, they fsck up for everybody, but only US users get some sort of compensation and protection from THEIR mistakes?
Onda Technology Institute
The BSA has a bad reputation of simply going after companies who have disgruntled employees and forcing them to prove that they own every a copy of Windows for every computer they have. I've heard that companies usually just pay the fine rather than go through the cost of auditing every computer they have. It's still a shakedown, but one that only targets companies.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
Worst case scenarios:
-They use your existing credit card. You report it to the credit card company who disables your card and sends out a new one. For the week that you don't have the card, you can't use it. The law allows the credit card company to hold you responsible for the first $50 of fraudulent activity. Some credit card companies charge for a new card if your old one is stolen or misused (mine charges $10). In the end, you can't use your card for a week, and you could be out $60.
-They use your existing debit card. You report it to the bank who disables your card. The bank, however, is not responsible for refunding the fraudulent charges. Your entire bank account could be wiped out and you could be left with numerous overdraft fees. In the end, you're broke.
-They open a new line of credit in your name. You don't find out until you go to buy a car or a house or change jobs and only then you find out that you're considered an extreme credit risk. Some credit lines adjust your interest rate based on your credit score, so you could find that your existing credit card interest rate goes through the roof, even though that particular card isn't involved. It can take years to correct bad credit information, so in the end, you can't make any major purchases and you might not even be able to get a job.
Yes, these are the extreme examples, but they aren't that far-fetched.
Are you fucking kidding me? Where have you been, offline for the past five years?
Sony greenlit a rootkit on their audio CDs. You don't remember that?
Sony had unpatched Apache servers running. That's inadequate protection of consumer data. I didn't say NO protection, I wrote that they failed to have proper protection.
But go ahead, defend your abuser.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
They use your existing debit card. You report it to the bank who disables your card. The bank, however, is not responsible for refunding the fraudulent charges. Your entire bank account could be wiped out and you could be left with numerous overdraft fees. In the end, you're broke.
Unless they use it as a debit card (your PIN, which would not be in Sony's records), the rules are the same as credit cards with the difference being that they aren't required to refund your money while determining whether it was actually fraud. So yes, you could be broke for a bit, but you should get it all back. If they used your PIN (say, a robber that stole it and your PIN was written on the card) then the bank will assert that you broke the rules that protected you and you are responsible for 100% of the losses. If they use it as a credit card, signing your name fraudulently, the bank is responsible for the fraud, not you. They are even responsible for skimmers that give them the card and PIN, but it takes longer to get your money back when they think you did something wrong, like share your PIN.
Perhaps that's not the requirement by law, but on the 5 debit cards I've had from different banks, all have followed that. I've never had a card in my life (and I collected then in college for fun, having $2000 per year income and 50+ cards with $100,000+ available credit) that would have charged me a cent had I been the victim of fraud. So perhaps there are some cards that target "subrprime" card holders with abusive terms, but everything mainstream does actually do a good job of protecting you.
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